Photo from Launch workshop for the GISAIA Program in Lagos, Nigeria. 2012

Overview

This grant to MSU/AFRE from the Gates Foundation Global Development Program is intended to improve the incomes and food security status of African farmers and consumers through policies to improve the profitability of cereal crop intensification and contribute to sustainable agricultural productivity growth in Africa. Over the period 2013-2017, a team of AFRE faculty will work with 10 African universities, institutes and government ministries in seven countries Kenya, Zambia, Tanzania, Nigeria, Malawi, Burkina Faso, and Mali to implement effective policy and programmatic strategies that help African farmers become more productive and food-secure. The team also will build the capacity of national policy institutes to guide and support their countries agriculture ministries and eventually accept and manage international grants.

Expected Outcomes

Five main outcomes/impacts from the proposed grant are anticipated:

Policy impact leading to improved food security and living standards;

Capacity building and analytical skill development of the Ministries of Agriculture in the region;

Improved analytical capacity of the national research institutes forming this consortium;

Public goods research findings that will be utilized more broadly both researchers and practitioners in other countries, which may indirectly contribute to improved policy impacts elsewhere;

A regional network of nationally recognized policy institutes that can accept and manage grant funds and sub-grant to the national institutes for regionally coordinated grants in the future.